Aaref Hilaly
Partner
Bain Capital Ventures
Partner at Bain Capital Ventures focused on small teams using AI to solve problems previously underserved by software.
Bio
Professional summary
Kevin Zhang is a Bay Area-based Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. His official profile says he partners from inception with founders building for the real world. Before BCV, he led product as the first business hire at Fundera, a financial services marketplace. His profile describes fintech as an area of deep prior experience and notes that financial services can be an early adopter of vertical software, productivity tools, and data analytics. BCV lists portfolio companies including The Sentience Company, Klutch, Loyal, Silna, Tandem Health, Lithos Carbon, Lightning AI, Alloy Automation, Vesta, and Hightouch.
Investment focus
Stage, sector, and overall fit
Stage
InceptionSeedEarly Stage
Sector
FintechAI AppsIndustrialsHealthcareVertical softwareDeveloper toolsData analyticsReal-world applications
Thesis
Inception-stage founders building real-world applicationsFintech and financial services technologyAI applicationsIndustrials and climate-related softwareHealthcare applications
Notable companies
Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed
FunderaLightning AIAlloy AutomationVestaHightouchThe Sentience CompanyKlutchLoyalSilnaTandem HealthLithos CarbonMintlify
How to approach
Framing and angles for outreach
Pitch framing
Strong fit for inception or seed-stage founders with a distinctive insight into a real-world workflow, especially across fintech, AI applications, healthcare, industrials, or developer-facing productivity tools.
Personalization hooks
- 1Reference his preference for partnering from inception.
- 2Mention founder insight, uncommon trajectory, or first-principles understanding of a workflow if relevant.
- 3Connect to Fundera experience if the company touches financial services or small business finance.
Recent signals
What the partner has said or done recently
BCV profile lists 2026 insights related to The Sentience Company and Mintlify.
BCV profile lists recent seed and early portfolio entries across AI apps, healthcare, and industrials from 2022 to 2026.
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